Close call for Taronga gorillas
A sleepless Sydney doctor may have saved the lives of apes at Taronga Zoo after spotting a building on fire - from the other side of the harbour.
The Gorillas could have have been lost if not for the eagle-eyed medic and his early morning Triple Zero call.
At 1.30AM this morning a Taronga Zoo maintenance building was engulfed in flames.
The speed and intensity of the fire had Zoo staff and firefighters fearing the worst.
When fire crews first arrived they thought there may have been animals inside.
Luckily none were – but not far away was an enclosure for gorillas under quarantine.
Four kilometres away, in his Darling Point penthouse, a sleepless Dr John Donnellan saw the flames.
He grabbed his binoculars and then his phone, immediately contacting Triple Zero.
"I actually can't believe that I was the only person to actually see it; because it was pretty obvious,” he said.
Firefighters took about 45 minutes to bring the flames under control and keep them from the animal areas.
The building, used mainly as a staff lunch room, was destroyed.
Taronga Zoo opened as usual today as investigators looked into the cause of the blaze.
The fire is not being treated as suspicious, possibly the result of an electrical fault.
Later today investigators confirmed a faulty toaster was to blame.
